Tuesday Daily Puck: Catching Up With An Old Teammate

I know big contract extensions are all in vogue in the NHL these last few years, but sometimes I'm just confused by them. Dion Phaneuf's new seven-year deal is one such. Phaneuf isn't having a particularly good year; the 28-year-old blueliner is scoring at the lowest rate of his entire NHL career, with 15 points in 39 games. Yeah, he's plus-13 (a career high), and yeah, the Leafs are clinging to what would currently be a playoff spot, but at the end of the day, Phaneuf is the captain of a team with more losses (21, including overtime) than wins (20), and he's undergoing what seems to be a serious offensive decline. Is that worth $7 million a year?

On this New Year's Eve, Jaromir Jagr finds himself one point short of Mario Lemieux's 1,723 career points. Appropriately enough, he'll look to tie or pass his former teammate against their former team, the Penguins. It's been a pleasure to grow up watching Jagr's all-time-great career, but as it winds down and he approaches Lemieux's scoring total (currently seventh on the all-time list), it only makes you appreciate Mario's contributions that much more. The players on either side of Lemieux on the scoring list -- Jagr and Steve Yzerman -- have totaled 1,431 and 1,514 NHL games, respectively. Lemieux played in 915. In fact, he's the only player in the NHL's top 35 all-time scorers who's played fewer than 1,126 games (that's Guy Lafleur, No. 26 on the list). If Lemieux had played as many games as Wayne Gretzky (1,487) at his career scoring pace, he would only be 57 points behind The Great One (2,857 to 2,800).

Buffalo SabresCody McCormick, C (finger)  Broken finger to keep him out a whilePatrick Kaleta, RW (knee)  Out for the year with torn ACL Kevin Porter, C (leg)  Expected to miss at least another weekCody Hodgson, C (finger)  Broken finger to keep him out into January

Sean Bergenheim, LW, FLA  He's not at the top of the list of guys you'd expect to have three-game goal-scoring streaks, but that's just what Bergenheim has done lately, actually finding twine four times in the last three contests. He's always been a goal-oriented scorer when he finds the score sheet, tallying 79 career markers against 64 assists, but Bergenheim's never been a big scorer overall, with a career high of 29 points at the NHL level. His production's elevated since he's been put into second-line minutes, but keep any expectations of a breakout tempered.

Wayne Simmonds, RW, PHI  Though Simmonds just had his own three-game goal-scoring streak broken, it's more than worth noting because he scored two goals in each of those three contests and still has points in five of his last six games. After a cold start to the season, Simmonds has resurrected his numbers  plus-minus excepted  to their normal levels, which of course includes some nice power-play productivity. Patient owners are being rewarded.

Kevin Shattenkirk, D, STL  A steady producer all year long, Shattenkirk's been even steadier lately, tallying exactly one point in six consecutive games. Just think what he could do if he was seeing the first-pairing minutes that are currently being enjoyed by Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo. Shattenkirk has an extremely impressive 28 points in 37 games, and yet is averaging less than 20 minutes of ice time per contest. Not a lot of defensemen this side of Erik Karlsson are capable of that.

Cold

Jimmy Howard, G, DET  Unfair to put Howard in the cold column after his first game back? Maybe. But he let in five goals against the awful Nashville offense in his return Monday, and with how rough Howard's been all year  especially in comparison to ostensible backup Jonas Gustavsson  that lands him on thin ice. The upside for Howard is that Gustavsson is nursing a groin injury, so if the man considered (before this year) to be Wings' franchise goalie can get his game together soon, he has a chance to put his stamp back on the No. 1 role.

Tuomo Ruutu, LW, CAR  Not only is Ruutu stone-cold  no points and an impressively poor minus-7 rating in his last six games  but he also got bumped to the third line during Saturday's game. With the horrendous way he's played this year  eight points and a minus-17 rating in 34 games  it won't be surprising if he makes a home in the bottom six for a while. At least until he gets his game together. Whenever that might happen.

John Carlson, D, WAS  Carlson is one of the most widely owned mediocre defensemen in fantasy. Universally owned on ESPN, near-universally owned on CBS and quite widely owned in Yahoo leagues, Carlson's value has been defined by a single category: shots on goal. He's fired 107 pucks on net in 40 games this year, but been rewarded with just seven goals  a fantasy-relevant stat for a defenseman, but well short of the expectations being set up by Carlson's prolific shooting. With just eight assists, he hasn't been killing it there either. And with just three points in his last 15 games, dating all the way back to late November, he's been stone-cold. But hey, he's still shooting.

Recommended PickupOndrej Palat, LW, TB  Opportunity makes a big difference in fantasy, and Palat has the kind of opportunity right now to impact fantasy rosters. A 52-point scorer (not to mention his plus-26 rating) in 56 AHL games last year, Palat has worked his way up to the top line for the injury-depleted Lightning here in his first full NHL season, and he's making a difference. He's seen 18-plus minutes in 10 of the last 12 games, and in that span, the Czech winger has accumulated eight points  not mind-blowing, but a solid pace that plays in a lot of fantasy formats. He's also currently on a three-game point streak, which is nice too. Palat's not a name-brand commodity, but hey, there probably aren't a lot of name-brand guys on your waiver wire. There also aren't a lot of guys who are skating alongside Martin St. Louis every night.